Herbs have been utilized in traditional Chinese Medicine for several millennia, longer than acupuncture itself. From natural observation, trial and error, and years of empirical wisdom, the Chinese Medicinal pharmacopia has grown to employ over two thousand individual herbs and hundreds of compounded formulas.

Herbology was derived from practioners and naturalists alike carefully examining their surroundings, the living plants and animals, and their interaction with eachother. These relationships of how living things organically communicated with their environs was eventually translated into a very potent and effective medicine. By understanding how certain plants thrived in certain ecosystems, practitioners were able to perceive the possible efficacy that could be used for humans, their bodies health and balance. For instance, a plant such as aloe thrives in arid dry climates, but congruently can be used for dry conditions in the human physiognomy. The same can be said for a plant like pinellia, which grows in wet, marshy climates, but can be used in fungal, or moist conditions.

After years of practicing a naturalist view of our bodies as microcosms of the world at large, a very intricate, interwoven, and powerful medicine, known as TCM, has blossomed. The formulas I employ for my practice are from safe, reputable, and mostly organically sourced herbal companies, generally in easy to swallow tablet, capsule, or granulated forms. I’ve found herbs to be a very substantial and viable part of the practice of TCM.